Monthly Archives: February 2015

Post navigation

Today I ate dairy free to see how it would feel. Felt about the same. I ate a ton of spinach to get my calcium.

I do notice I need to consciously intake sodium or I start to feel crappy. I’m not sure if this is a transitory thing or if this is just how it is now.

Fasting blood sugar is still high – in the 150s. Post prandial sugars are improving. 2 hours after breakfast was 148 (down from my fasting level of 156), and 2 hours after lunch was 105. I’m not sure why my fasting numbers are so high. Something having to do with cortisol maybe? But I have, like, no cortisol to speak of.

Overall I’m feeling really good. I’ve increased DHEA back to 4, and then 5 drops per day (heading toward 6, which was my prescribed dose). Energy is really good. Mood is edgy – I’m not depressed but I notice I’m a little mood swingish – only when I’m hungry though. I feel hungry more often now that I’ve restricted my diet. Sometimes I just don’t know what to eat or I’m somewhere without many options. I wish the hunger would go away. I forget about eating all the time until my body protests. I hate that people think fat people are all guttons and pigs. I would love to not have to eat.

Muscle pain almost gone now. Post-prandial blood glucose readings are the lowest I’ve seen in months – 2 hours after breakfast was 114, and two hours after lunch was 107. Lately my blood sugar is never under 130, so this is pretty cool.

Amelia tells me that when adapting to being a fat burner you have to make sure you have enough water, salt, and potassium – so when I have carb cravings these are the things I’m reaching for. And by carb cravings I don’t mean, “OOO I miss chocolate so much!! Just a little taste wouldn’t hurt!!” I mean, “My blood sugar feels like it’s dropping through the floor even though I just ate an entire meal and I have to find a way to get through the next 5 minutes.”

I’m on day 3 now with basically no sugar, no starch, no dense source of carbohydrates. I’m trying to become a fat burner. It’s a struggle but I’m going to stick with it. If I’m not willing to take the drugs I better be willing to make the lifestyle changes. I don’t want to be diabetic so this train needs to turn around.

I haven’t mentioned this lately but I started having hot flashes again a couple months ago (well before starting the current supplement protocol). I’m still taking progest E. I’m going to stop it for a while and see if anything changes. My cycles are also all wonky, but that’s nothing new.

I’m haivng a lot of muscle soreness the last couple of days and today I feel fatigued and angry. Also lots of carbohydrate cravings and irregular pounding heartbeat. Wondering if these are side effects from taking Metformin. I’m going to stop taking it for now.

Ok, more test results. I had a bunch of stool testing done, and most of it was normal – no parasites, no H. Pylori. There was this interesting finding though:

Apparently I have an overgrowth of one “potential pathogen” called Citrobacter braakii (see the guy in yellow up there?). I quick google search didn’t provide a ton of information, but Amelia suggests this could be responsible for my psychiatric symptoms (depression, anxiety). I’m not sure if all of it can be attributed to that – I mean, I’ve had the depression much of my life, although just in the last year it has become clear to me that it goes away when I change my diet or take antibiotic medications/herbs. So entirely possible. My bloating still has me mystified though. That just started a few months ago, and continues to this day – always after I eat and it’s not just eating carbs. Amelia says this could be related to a number of things including the above mentioned gram negative bacteria, or my utter lack of good gut bacteria. I’m choosing to not overanalyze it and instead trust the process.

So to address the bacterial issue I’ve been taking the following, per Amelia’s recommendations:

They also recommended fish oil, but I’ve chosen not to take it. I don’t think adding polyunsaturated fat to my world is going to help, even if it’s omega 3. Research that I’ve read (link here with a good write up here) suggests that omega 3s help reduce inflammation when you’re eating a diet high in Omega 6 fats – so ok, if you’re going to eat a bunch of nuts or use vegetable oil there’s some benefit to balancing all the omega 6 with some additional omega 3. But omega 3 supplementation is probably not necessary otherwise, and may actually suppress the immune system. I could be wrong about this, but this is one thing about Ray Peat that I think is right on. When I stopped eating excess PUFAs I stopped getting sick. When I started eating them again I got sick within a couple weeks. So this is the one area I’m not following directions with my new plan. So rebellious.

Here’s an interesting thing Amelia told me about taking Metformin. Apparently if you’re taking it and you’re going to have any kind of scan – like an MRI – with contrast, you have to be off the Metformin for at least 2 weeks or you risk significant kidney damange from the scan. Scary stuff. My plan is to follow the advice of the NBT team and get off of these meds as fast as possible.

I still don’t have a blood pressure medication that works well for me yet, so my blood pressure is not well managed. After identifying that I was having an allergic reaction to my last one (Losartan), my doc took me off that one and started me on Methyldopa. It’s been over a month and doesn’t seem to be working. No side effects at least, as far as I can tell. I’ve been unsuccessful finding a blood pressure medication that works for me without unmanageable side effects. I’ve tried a bunch of natural things but the benefit didn’t last and I couldn’t figure out what was helping and what wasn’t. My best bet is to lose weight and get healthier. I can’t outrun my declining health with medicine.

Well I’ve recovered from my bad day. Part of the reason it was a bad day was that I was crying all day long. It was pretty embarrassing at work – I was dealing with a complete and utter inability to handle even the smallest stressor. It was like this:

Me: Why can’t I dial out on this phone?????!?!?!?!

Coworker: Did you put in your 5 digit passcode?

Me: What passcode? I’ve been here 3 months now and I’ve never heard of a passcode!!?!?!?!

Coworker: Yes, you should really talk to your supervisor about it. I can’t believe she didn’t give you your 5-digit passcode.

Me: She didn’t! (tears, tears, tears)

Coworker: Oh no – you’re crying! It’ll be ok!

Me: I know. It’s prolly just hormones….

Then later:

Me: I can’t log into this program!

Coworker: Yeah, that program is a real pain. It always kicks me out too.

Me: BUT I NEED TO GET IN!!! (tears tears tears)

Coworker: You’re really having a rough day, huh. Maybe you should go take a break.

Me: Good idea. (ducking my head into a big coat with a scarf and hat so no one will ask me if I’m ok on my way out to go cry in my car. )

SUPER EMBARRASSING!

So here’s what I think is happening – I think some of the DHEA I’m taking is converting to estrogen. Amelia tells me that some of my hormone receptors are a bit super-sensitive from being deprived for so long. So I cut the dose of DHEA in half from 6 drops a day to 3 drops a day. Will try increasing gradually.

Otherwise I’m feeling much better. Sleep, sex, and energy are improving. I’ve been taking the recommended supplements for only about a week and a half. My body seems to crave them though – I look forward to taking them and never miss a dose.

I’m over my emotional meltdown about being diabetic too. I’ll never qualify for life insurance in the open market, but aside from that I’ll survive. I mean, that’s the goal anyway…surviving. I think I can reverse this thing though. Looking forward to the Diabetes Summit in March, if I can find some time in the day to watch the presentations.

I’m really enjoying working with Amelia and the team at Nourish Balance Thrive. She is extremely responsive, kind, and knowledgeable about physiology. I feel strongly right now that this treatment protocol is going to have a great outcome.

Next post – I’ll talk about the other supplements I’m taking. I talked about the hormonal/adrenal support supplements a couple days ago. There’s more.

My husband is losing his job. I don’t know if I can afford these supplements anymore. They’re expensive – over $300 a month. I’m looking for cheaper alternatives but honestly I don’t know what the hell to do. I’m thinking about selling junk on ebay.

I had a doctor’s appointment and a blood draw yesterday. Nurse called today to tell me my HbA1C is 6.7 (up from 6.2 last July). I guess I’m officially diabetic now. Doc prescribed Metformin. I’m going to take it.

I’m grateful to have good health insurance. It looks like I’m going to need it.

Post navigation

Hi and Welcome!

I'm Lanie - Middle aged and diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes and general fatness, I'm determined to be healthy again and set a good example for my 7-year old daughter. Please join me in my health-seeking adventures.

Affiliate Disclosure

Some of the links in this blog are affiliate links. If you click through and purchase something I may make a commission that is used to help keep this blog running. It costs you nothing extra. If you choose to use these links, thank you!

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.